Choosing a First-Year Res Hall

Phillip Gray Clark
March 29, 2016

Choosing your preferred first-year residence hall is one of your first rites of passage at Kenyon. There are a few options: Mather, McBride and the first-year quad, which consists of Lewis, Norton and Gund. Some of the people in your building and hall will become some of your first and best friends at Kenyon.

(ME IN MY FIRST-YEAR HALL WITH ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS WHO LIVED IN THE SAME HALL!)

All the halls have their pros and cons, so I thought it’d be a great idea to go through the residence halls and list my pros and qualms about them:

Mather/McBride:

Mather and McBride are tempting to many first-year students, as they boast something that is not available in the quad buildings: air conditioning. The halls are co-ed, so you could be living next to guys or girls depending on chance. I spent relatively little time my first year in these rooms. Rooms in Mather and McBride are smaller than the rooms in Lewis, Norton and Gund, but Mather and McBride offer something the quad buildings don’t: the option to live in a triple. Also, rooms in Mather/McBride have smaller windows, so if you feel like you need lots of natural light, you might want to look into the quad.

The First-Year Quad:

These halls are my personal favorites. I lived in Norton my first year, and it truly is a beautiful building. The first-year quad buildings are single-sex by floor, so you will only be living with guys or girls. The rooms are bigger than rooms in Mather and McBride and have large windows, nice closets and beautiful bookshelves. I absolutely loved my time in Norton. As far as the lack of AC goes, Kenyon’s classes start around Sept. 1, and winter here starts, in my opinion as an Atlanta native, around Sept. 10. There might be a couple weeks of discomfort, especially if you aren’t used to warmer weather, but it's nothing that a fan can’t fix.

You really can’t go wrong picking a first-year res hall at Kenyon. Your first year will be an incredibly fun and interesting time no matter where you live. Don’t stress about it. Just be honest on your roommate preference form, and think about what you really want. It will all work out. Good luck to the Class of 2020! Can’t wait to see y’all up on the Hill!